How to Get up Early in the Morning!

Getting up early, for many feels like torture and seems ludicrous to suggest the alien idea of 'getting up early'. This was how I felt at one point but now I would

definitely recommend this to be incorporated into your daily schedule. There are many  benefits and 'pros'  for early rising, that definitely out-way the 'cons'.

So after considering these 'pros', I decided to start getting up earlier.

Before I started doing this, I was getting up at 8-10:00( which is still early to some people) and occasionally 11-12:00.

Even when getting up late, I still felt tired and didn't feel I had the energy to do anything, it felt as though half the day was gone and I ended up putting things off. Although I suppose half the day is gone if you get up at lunchtime. :)

So how did I start getting up early and what time did I start doing this at?

Before I answer the first part of the question I'll answer the second part first. I started getting up at 5:00 ( big difference I know, but bare with me its not as bad as it sounds) and was determined to do it. The first day I got up, It was raining, thundering and lighting which dampened my mood. I seriously thought about staying in bed, but I still got up and was amazed how short the feeling of not wanting to get up lasted

Once into the swing of things the morning was surprisingly quite nice. After the first 30 days of determination the early mornings were programmed into my body clock and I could get up easier gaining more from the day than I ever used to.

The steps (only three) of how I started getting up early are listed below. They really do work if you use them effectively:

1. Alarm clock

Probably the most famous thing to do, is use the good old alarm clock, which is genuinely a great tool to use, but still this can fail if good steps are not taken. Firstly make sure your alarm is as loud and annoying as possible. By doing this you will want to switch it off to kill the disturbance and if you have a sleeping family living with you, this will only hasten you in your pursuit for switching the thing off.


This leads on to the second point which is: Keep it out of reach. This is necessary when you first start trying to get up early, otherwise you will be more than tempted to switch it off and go back to bed. If you are living on your own then you are at a more of a disadvantage and have to have a stronger will power to get up.
Don't think about getting up but just do it, the more you think the more time you are spending in bed and will be more likely to stay there. Even just suddenly sitting up can wake your body up enough to then take the step of getting up.


Once up after switching it your alarm off you are most probably going to stay up and can go about your day in the normal manner ( except with more time to spare)! I use my phone as an alarm clock,I have a choice of really annoying ringtones at my disposal.(The siren tone is an especially annoying one). Now I wake up before the alarm, but I still set it to have the incentive to get up.

2. Amount of Sleep 

A lot of people will tell you if you are going to get up 2-3 or however much earlier, then you will need to go to sleep that much earlier. This seems like a logical approach but in my experience doesn't always work. In fact if I go to bed too early I then normally cant go to sleep until much later than I would normally because I'm just not tired, spending the time trying to go to sleep keeping myself awake for longer .

So instead of going to sleep that much earlier go to bed when you are tired and be honest as its only yourself your cheating. For me to get up at 5 in the morning I will normally have to go to bed at 9:30 - 10:30, I can manage 11 but its pushing it, and because I'm tired when I go to bed I normally always fall to sleep straight away after getting in.


Reading is a great thing to do before bed as it will help to relax your mind, don't feel obliged to start reading if you don't want to though, its just one way to relax before bed.

3. Have a reason 

Having a reason to get up earlier is a lot more vital than you may think. Not only will this reason give you direction to starting your day but this reason will help spur you in carrying on in the future. There can be a whole host of reasons why you would want to get up early in the mornings.

For me this is to take the dog for a walk (Molly a black Lab) and helps in keeping me refreshed. If I don't do this early in the morning I find that  I tend not to enjoy it as much later in the day as its hanging over me  making me put it off more , which isn't fair on Molly. At the time of writing this, I get up at 5, leaving myself an hour to get breakfast and get ready, then at 6 (maybe 10 minutes before) I leave for the walk. I then take her down to the beach and right along the length of it taking me in the region of 2 maybe 3 hours, but I'm glad once It's done. It feels as though I have accomplished something in the day, and when I get home at about 8, my family are normally still in bed or just leaving for work rushing out the front door, establishing in my mind that getting up early is the right thing to do.                    

The first week to two weeks are the hardest, but after a month of doing it you will automatically wake up at the right time and will have settled into a routine.

Its amazing to look back now on how much time I wasted being asleep, when I now have so much more time to do things that were previously out of reach.

Another motivation for me is the fact that most mornings I tend to see the same faces up and about (when I'm taking Molly for a walk), encouraging me that there are others out there who enjoy the benefits of getting up early.

Be careful when getting up early in the morning that you don't fall into the trap of putting it off, because more than likely you'll end up staying there. When you then do decide to get up, you'll going to have a negative mindset for the day because you'll be thinking about all the extra things you could of got done while you were lounging in bed.

Here are three popular excuses for not getting up in the morning:

1. Its dark 

A reason for not getting up is that its still dark ( the exception being summer) and legitimately this is a good reason for putting it off for a bit longer as your sight is limited, unless switching on a light and even then you can be at risk at waking family members or people living with you, when they will be in their most primal mood!

2.  Too warm and comfy 

This is more of a 'I can't be bothered' reason, telling yourself its much nicer in your bed than out and it would be catastrophic for your well-being if you got up. Once you're up and about though, you'll be glad.

3. Too Tired 

This is the main reason and of course depending on the time you go to bed, depends if this excuse is actually something to take into consideration. For example if I went to bed at 2:00am, I wouldn't then get up at my normal 5:00, as I wouldn't have had enough sleep. I would have to sleep in a bit later. On the other hand If you have had enough sleep, when waking up early and you think to yourself "I'm still too tired to get up", put it out of your mind immediately and just get up. You'll be just as tired after a couple of hours just lounging there in bed on your back, and you'll regret it afterwards.

I hope that if you are planning to get up early this helps and I wish you all the best of luck.